Scoliosis Brace For Children

Hi, here is a photo essay to take you through how a scoliosis brace is made! As I understand it, scoliosis brace making for adults is the same as for children. It’s a fascinating medical art, as you’ll see.

This is my four year old son Bexon waiting for the process to begin.

As you can see, he’s not too stressed out about it. The beautiful ladies in the X-ray department (radiology) gave him these gummy lizards that you throw at the wall and they crawl down on their own.

Creepy. Slimy. Awesome!

Bex threw one on the hospital room ceiling and this nice man who works in the Orthotics department helped us peel it off. Never a dull moment, I tell you.

Before we got started, Bex demanded a lollipop and a lemonade. Perfectly understandable. No meds or sedatives were used. On the child, I mean.

So here he is wearing two layers of a stretchy fabric that’s kind of like gauze.

These are the choices of the brace colors and patterns currently at Shriners Hospital in Salt Lake City. Sorry this is a little blurry. But in the old days they didn’t have many choices, I hear, now they make it fun!

You can even get leopard or zebra print. You can go buck wild crazy, man. On the bottom of the pic above are the strap colors you can choose from.

Bex picked this underwater ocean fish design. There’s a clown fish on it like from “Finding Nemo.” We love it.

This is Peter Springs, our (ABC Certified Prosthetist) Orthotist. Peter is an all around cool guy, very chill.

The person with the frizzy hair next to him is hideous- look away! I cut myself out of this photo because nobody and I mean nobody looks good in hospital lighting.

Especially not me when I decide to pull my bangs back. Remind me never to do that again.

First Peter had Bex lie down on a table with a long strap supporting his back. Another man from the department came to help and Peter asked Nick and I to help support him as well.

At least I think it was fiberglass. Someone correct me if I’m wrong. This one’s blurry, too. In real life Peter is not blurry.

And when the material began to harden, Peter gently cut it off.

That was it. It was fast. Then we went back to the hotel to swim and eat loads of carbs and sugar while he went to work on the even more artistic part of the process.

This is getting long, so let’s stop here for Part One and I’ll show you the rest in Part Two. I’ll add a link back to this one so no one gets lost if they missed Part One.

Stay tuned! I’m racing to get it finished.

Love,

~ Heidi

P.S. For the curious- the bump through Bex’s blue t-shirt above is just the brace foam/strap showing through- not his spine. It’s the only place the brace is noticeable through his shirt, and that’s pretty much only when he leans forward.

Hi there, do you have an X-ray? Do you know the curve degree (COBB angle) your son has? Thank you for contacting me, because if I can help in any way, I would love to be of service to your family. Please visit the nonprofit charity that helped us find the right doctor, http://www.infantilescoliosis.org

We go to a Shriners Hospital for Children in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA and they do a lot of free medical care. You can email me privately at girltomom@gmail.com with any questions. It is best to NOT WAIT with this situation in young babies and children, please act fast! It can mean life or death.